


We Don't Keep Secrets In Our Family

by temperance_june



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Brotherhood, Dark Past, Gen, Tarsus IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-08
Updated: 2013-10-08
Packaged: 2017-12-28 20:30:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/996246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/temperance_june/pseuds/temperance_june
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Into Darkness. After the news hit about Admiral Marcus Starfleet starts a campaign to rebuild from within. When Starfleet announces that they will be sending scientists to Tarsus IV to rebuild the colony and Sam Kirk is  on the list of volunteers, Jim must come clean about his past and what happened when to him on the planet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Don't Keep Secrets In Our Family

"Jim," Leonard McCoy shouted towards the small kitchen of their apartment "You are going to want to see this."

"I'm making myself a sandwich. You're the one who is always on me about-" Jim started but was interrupted.

"No, that can wait. You have to see this." It was the urgency in Leonard's voice that made Jim roll his eyes and close up the sandwich before heading to join him on the couch.

"I swear to God Bones, if this is another one of Starfleet's "we are strong together" propaganda I'm going to shove this sandwich somewhere unpleasant"

Jim sat down and turned his attention to the television. 

“ _-the twenty four volunteers who will be spending a year doing research on the planet. These scientists specialize in fields such as botany and biology and will be conducting surveys to see if the planet is still habitable. Some of you remember the tragic story of Tarsus IV and how famine swept across the planet. With the help of these men and women we hope to be able to rebuild Tarsus IV into the thriving land it once was. Please welcome the man who will be leading this expedition, Samuel Kirk."_

  
Jim froze but his heartbeat raced. He could see the pictures moving in front of him as his older brother came onto the stage. He could not hear what they were saying. He was vaguely aware of Leonard by his side trying to get his attention but all he could do was pull his knees to his chest and close his eyes, hoping this was all a bad dream. 

.-*-.

After Leonard helped Jim calm down, it was decided that Jim needed to talk to Sam. They had managed to reconnect some after the events of the Narada and Sam and his wife had come to visit for a while after everything that had happened with Khan and Admiral Marcus. Jim was grateful to have his brother back in his life, but they avoided talking about Frank and their childhood. He had not told Sam about his time off planet.

Jim spent the whole day preparing to tell Sam. Convincing himself that he could talk about it, that he had to tell Sam what happened. Jim had only told one other person, Leonard, about it and it had only come up after Leonard had noticed how Jim reacted when the topic was mentioned in their History of the Federation class that they shared. Even then it took a fair bit of liquid courage to help him out.

Still when there was a knock at the door Jim almost didn’t answer.

“Hey Jimmy.” Sam smiled and wrapped his younger brother into a hug. “You are looking good, glad to see you’ve put some meat back on those bones.”

“We need to talk about Ta- your mission.” Jim blurted out, his cheeks burned as he turned towards the living room to sit.

“I’m really excited about this. There was apparently an unknown disease that hit the planet and affected the crops. It killed most of the crops. Starfleet received a distress signal from the planet and managed to get there in time. They had preserved a few of the crops so we have samples of the disease to run analysis on.” Sam had the glow about him of a person who was excited for what was to come, but Jim’s stomach turned.

“You can’t go.” Jim’s voice weak, almost begging.

"This is a great opportunity for me, Jimmy. It will finally get me some field work which will open up new research opportunities.”

"What if something happens to you? I don't want to lose you too."

"Don't you think I worry about you too? Hell, I didn't even know you joined Starfleet until I saw you on the news beaten and bruised from saving the planet. Then with what happened two months ago-" Sam faltered. "Look, the famine occurred fourteen years ago. We will have plenty of food and supplies to-

"THAT'S WHAT THEY SAID THEN TOO!"

Sam was taken aback by his brother's sudden outburst. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Jim swallowed the lump in his throat. "That is what they said fourteen years ago. They kept promising that Starfleet was coming with more supplies. But they didn't. Not until it was too late."  
  
"Jim.."  
  
"I was there Sam. I was on Tarsus when all the crops started to die and when.. when.." Jim stopped, not trusting himself to say more. 

"You were 13 when it happened. How did you end up off planet?”

"The day you left I, uhm, took the car. I was upset and I didn't want Frank to have it so I stole it. I ended up driving it off the cliff. Frank was furious when he found out. He signed me up for one of those youth programs that take you off planet and assign you to a host family to live with and learn from."

Sam's expression softened as he listened. "I didn't know.."

"Of course not, you were smart and escaped." A year ago there might have been bitterness in that statement, but the brothers had become close that Jim couldn’t fault him for doing what he thought was best, for giving him an opportunity to have a normal life.

"I should have took you with me"

"You couldn't have. We couldn't have both left and you know it. Besides, it's not like you can change what happened." 

"I can't change what happened on Tarsus either, but this project could allow people to return. It's not like the famine will strike twice."

Jim's voice was small "That's not what happened.”

"Jim, Starfleet records say a famine came and wiped out all the crops. What else would cause perfectly healthy crops to die out?"

"It was an ecoterrorism group. They did it."

"What? You can’t seriously believe that someone intentionally killed the crops causing an entire colony to almost starve to death.” Sam didn’t want to call his brother crazy but that was what that theory sounded to him.

"Just listen to me, Sam. An ecoterrorism group released a virus that killed off all the crops on the colony. Governor Kodos kept saying that help was coming, but as days turned into weeks with no communication from anyone we were running out of food quick.

"So Kodos created this list of all the people he didn't think were worthy of the supplies. He gathered us all in city hall and informed us of what was going on. Then he pulled on a mask and released this gas.

"Me and about a dozen other kids managed to escape without being noticed. We ran for the hills, eating bugs and some food a few of us managed to steal during the night. Most of us didn't make it.  
  
"When Starfleet finally arrived Kodos had killed most of the colony. They took us aboard their ship and this Vulcan tried to erase our memories of what happened. I wouldn't let him. I couldn't just let all those people be forgotten."

Jim had curled up into a ball by the time he finished. Sam's eyes glistened and he wrapped his arms around his younger brother, so small and fragile looking at the moment. _“Oh Jimmy.”_

“I couldn’t save them Sam.” Jim choked, tears running down his face. “I couldn’t stop it. They are gone and I couldn’t do anything. Four thousand people.”

“Please. Sam. Don’t leave me again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sam probably didn't know what happened to Jim after he left. After everything that happened I imagine Starfleet had to do some serious cleanup and they probably went back and tried to fix all of their blemishes on their record, including the "famine" that hit Tarsus. 
> 
> I typed most of this up on my ipod at two am when I had the idea for this fic. I think I caught most of the mistakes!


End file.
